Presby-Musings

Yesterday evening was the one sliver of time I had to finally put away all of the Christmas decorations--preparing them for a year's storage in all of their various Christmas decoration boxes.   I couldn't wait to be done with that task last night.  I think I found some buried and forgotten reserve of energy to keep packing and cleaning far into the night, until every last evidence of Christmas was wrapped, packed and out of sight.   This morning, groggy and nursing some seriously black and strong coffee, I have been gazing at all of the bins and boxes standing sentinel in the hall, waiting to be carried to the garage.  Not that long ago, I opened all of those Christmas decoration boxes with joy and anticipation, and now I can't wait to see them stored away.   I couldn't help but reflect on how, in much the same way, we often run hot and cold when it comes to our relationship with Jesus--depending on what we seem to think we need at the time.   ...

This Sunday we will be celebrating what is officially known as "The Epiphany of our Lord," the day that ends the season of Christmas (the famous "12 Days") and begins the season of Epiphany in the Church.  I didn't make these things up, people.  Christians have been celebrating this stuff for a good long time, and I kind of dig it, to be honest. But what does "Epiphany" actually mean, and why should we even care about any of this stuff anyway?   To begin with, "epiphany" is a word that essentially means "realization," or more specifically, "inspired realization."  When you have an epiphany you know it.  You feel it in your bones.  It's more important than realizing that you took a wrong turn on the way to Albuquerque and ended up in Hoboken.  That would be a seriously wrong turn, I might add.   An epiphany is when you realize something that has the potential to change your life, the way you think about ...

This week we are concluding the sermon series that took us all the way through the season of Advent , and has now shamelessly encroached on the season of Christmas--which lasts until Epiphany, in case you were wondering.  Oh yeah, baby.  Christmas is far from over for the Church.  That's how us mainline Protestant-types roll. There's this song on the Beatles " Rubber Soul " album that came to mind as I was preparing for this week's sermon.  Sometimes the Beatles just happen when you're sermonizing.  Trust me on this. The song?  "In My Life."  It goes a little something like this, in case you've forgotten or if you have no concept of good music and have never heard it: There are places I remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places have their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I've loved them all ...

This Sunday is Epiphany , the official end of the 12 Days of Christmas , and the day before the NCAA football national championship game, and thus the end of the college football bowl season---which in our culture officially ends the holiday season. Heck, Walgreens is already putting out their Valentine's Day cards, so who am I kidding, right? Still, in some cultures Epiphany is a bigger deal than Christmas.  And in these cultures the rituals of gift giving are tied to wise men instead of a jolly old elf.  I have to admit, this isn't such a bad idea. In many Latin American cultures the day is commonly known as Tres Reyes ( Three Kings ), and is celebrated by children filling their shoes with hay and then leaving them  by their bedroom doors the night before Epiphany in anticipation of receiving gifts on the morning of January 6th.  They hay is for the camels of the legendary Three Kings, of course. In England the night before Epiphany was called Twelfth ...